How do I make a business plan? Part 1
How do I make a business plan?Part 2
How do I make a business plan? (Supplement)
Q: Our company is offering us a one-time loan which I plan to invest in a carinderia. I have talked to my high school friend who is a good cook to help me out in establishing this business. I only have PhP 150,000 to start with. My family is committed to support me with manpower since most of my relatives are currently unemployed.
Currently I have been browsing the internet for materials that could help me build the business plan, cash flow, and feasibility. What other things should I need to consider?
— Teddy U. Tabanao Jr.
A: A business plan for any type and size of enterprise is made up of four interrelated sections: marketing, technical, organization, and financial. You must prepare each section plan carefully. Put them together and--voilà--you have your business plan.
Four sections
In your marketing plan, make sure that your carinderia satisfies a need or a want for certain foods at specific times of the day. Ideally, your carinderia should provide the right food, for the right price, at the right place, at the right time, and supported by the right promotion.
Your technical plan describes all technical aspects of the carinderia:
* menu and cooking processes
* place and layout of the kitchen and eating area
* ingredients and materials for the menu
* cooking and processing equipment, furniture, utensils
* manpower requirements
The technical plan includes details about your production:
* number of servings for each type of food you expect to sell in a week for the first month
* major and minor ingredients of each food offering that you need to buy, in what quantities, how much, and when
* level of stock you may keep for certain ingredients
In your organizational plan, you decide on the legal form of your carinderia business. You also determine the people you need as well as the skills and qualifications to look for when identifying prospective employees.
Lastly, your financial plan will reveal how much capital you will need for the carinderia and how much profit to expect during the first few years of operation.
Let me give, for now, details of the marketing plan--as it is probably the most important plan for a food retailing business which you have in mind.
Your product
Specify the menu that you will offer in the carinderia. List down the types of meat, fish and seafood, and vegetable dishes you will sell.
Then look at the environment where you intend to set up the carinderia. What dishes similar to yours are available in the market? How many carinderias offer these dishes? Can the competition meet the demand of the market? If not, how big is the unmet demand of the market? In terms of quality, how will your dishes compare with your competitors?
What will be your marketing strategy? Do you intend to offer the same dishes as your competitors? Do you want to specialize on a few dishes? What types of dishes would you want to be known for?
Your buyers
In general, who do you think are the type of people who will be interested to buy your dishes? In particular, what segment of the population is your target customers who will likely buy from you because they want your dishes and are willing and able to pay for them? Where are your target buyers and how big is this segment?
A simple market research will help you determine your place in the carinderia business in the area where you intend to locate. Simply follow these steps:
If you cannot read the text on this table, refer below:
Menu = Target customers =How often and when do customers buy =Price per order =Competitor's name =Competitor's price
Menudo
Fried chicken
Chopsuey
Etc.
Menu: List the dishes you intend to cook and sell.
Target customers: Describe the customers for the each dish. Ask yourself these questions: who are the people who want this dish and are willing to pay for it? Are they mostly men, women or children? Are they young or old? What type work do they do? Are their incomes low or high? Where do they live and where do they buy at present? Are they on your street, in your barangay, near your carinderia or far away?
How often and when do customers buy: Write down the frequency and time your intended customers buy each dish. For example, is it every mealtime (breakfast, lunch, dinner) everyday, every week, every month, during rainy season, in summer, on payday?
Price per order: Write down the price you will charge for the dish.
Competitor's name: List the other businesses, your competitors, who sell the same dishes. What is special about their dishes? Include fastfood chains among your competitors.
Competitor's price: Write down the prices your competitors charge for a similar dish.
Your Price
How much will you charge for each dish? How did you arrive at your price? Will you change increase your price eventually? By how much? How does your price compare to that of your competitors? How much lower or how much higher?
You make a sales projection for each dish that you will cook and sell. Simply fill out the table below.
Note: To keep it simple, we will assume that all sales will be on cash basis. There is no need to breakdown your sales into cash sales and credit sales.
Example: Meat Dish (Planned Sales Volume/Sales)
Your place of business
Location is very important for a carinderia business. Your customers must easily access you. You have to answer these questions satisfactorily. Where do you intend to locate your carinderia? Why did you choose this place in particular? I suggest that you draw a location map of where you intend to set up the carinderia. Identify and show where your target customers will likely come from. Indicate landmarks (schools, offices, etc) and access routes.
Will you serve dine-in and take-out customers only? Will you get orders from employees and workers from nearby establishments? Will you deliver? If so, how will you bring their orders to them?
Promoting your carinderia
Getting people to turn their backs on the more established carinderias and patronize yours is not going to be easy. Neither is it cheap--especially in the early stages of the business. You need to allot a budget for promotions.
This effort should answer these questions: How will you attract customers to your carinderia? Are you going to use posters or flyers to make your customers aware and entice them to come to you? What gimmicks do you intend to use and how much will you spend for these?
This completes your marketing plan. Go over it once more and check for any unanswered questions or details you may have missed out.
(To be continued)
“SmallBiz Clinic” is a joint project of EYP and the UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP ISSI) that aims to provide free online consultancy and information services to small and medium-scale enterprises. A team of expert consultants from UP ISSI answers questions sent in by SME readers and advises them on general actions to take to better manage their businesses.
The UP ISSI is a training and research organization created in 1966 to help promote the development of small enterprises in the country. It has trained generations of successful Filipino entrepreneurs via comprehensive development programs in management, marketing, and finance, as well as other innovative development strategies such as the training of small business consultants.
UP ISSI brings to the “SmallBiz Clinic” over 35 years of frontline expertise in the day-to-day challenges and issues of running a Philippine-based enterprise.
Source: Philstar.com
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